>if open a table that is contained in a database (but i do not know
>which one), is there a way to find out what the "containing database
>pointer" is ?
>
>is there a way to update that pointer ?

This will do it:

if empty(dbf())
   return ""
endif
local lcDBC, lnRetVal, llFound, lcCurDBC, laDBCs[1]
lnRetVal = ADATABASES(laDBCs)
lcCurDBC = SET('database')
FOR EACH lcDBC IN laDBCs
   SET DATABASE TO (lcDBC)
   IF INDBC(JUSTSTEM(JUSTFNAME(DBF())), 'Table')
      llFound = .t.
      EXIT
   ENDIF
ENDFOR
SET DATABASE TO (lcCurDBC)
CLEAR
if not llFound
   lcDBC = ""
endif
RETURN lcDBC